Prior art software programs exist for adjusting and modifying various network configuration settings of a user's computer that are used by the Internet protocol (TCP/IP) running under Windows operating systems. Examples of such programs include webRocketφ, available from Ascentive LLC; Internet Connection Booster 2000, available from BEVALLY Software, Inc., and iSpeed for Windows, available from High Mountain Software. These software programs allow a user to change various default settings, such as Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), Maximum Segment Size (MSS), Receive Window (RWIN), Time to Live (TTL), MTU Auto Discover, and Black Hole detection. The user may change the settings manually, or the user may select a group of settings that are defined by the software program. The goal of changing the settings is to optimize the performance of the user's computer. Manually trying to identify optimal settings is a time-consuming and difficult trial-and-error process. Once a particular group of settings is identified, the settings may not even be optimized for subsequent Internet sessions. Changing the default settings to a predefined group of settings may provide some improvement in performance, but does not provide the optimal settings for a particular user's computer during a particular Internet session.
Furthermore, the user may have specific performance preferences. For example, one user may prefer enhanced download speed, while another may prefer a system with minimized latency. It may be difficult, if not impossible, for a user to manually determine the optimal performance settings for a particular preference, whereas the automatic settings on such software programs may not allow for user preferences to be considered. Such software programs also do not allow a user to access the experiences of other users to speed up and improve the optimization process.
Accordingly, there is a need for a software tool to better assist users in determining the best network configuration settings to achieve optimal network performance based on specified user preferences. The present invention fulfills such a need.